Scrollable computing device display

ABSTRACT

The display of a scrollable list of items is described. In one disclosed embodiment, a list of items may be displayed on a scrollable computing device display in such a manner that, upon receiving an input requesting movement of a select indicator to a different list item, the select indicator is moved on the display toward the different list item and the list is scrolled on the display in an opposing direction.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/160,103,filed May 20, 2016, which is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 14/265,986 filed Apr. 30, 2014, now granted as U.S. Pat. No.9,367,209, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/908,999 filed on Jun. 3, 2013, now granted as U.S. Pat. No.8,738,092, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/971,489 filed on Dec. 17, 2010, now granted as U.S. Pat. No.8,457,691, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/649,398, filed on Jan. 4, 2007, now granted as U.S. Pat. No.7,907,974, all entitled “SCROLLABLE COMPUTING DEVICE DISPLAY,” theentire contents of each of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND

Computing devices may be configured to present lists of files, folders,applications, and other resources to a user via a scrollable interfaceon a display. Scrollable displays may include a scroll bar configured toallow a user to scroll through a list quickly, and to convey informationregarding a size of the list and a location of the displayed portion ofthe list relative to a beginning and end of the list. The scroll bar mayinclude a “scroll box” or “scroll thumb” which can be dragged via amouse or other input device to cause the list to scroll, and a selectindicator that highlights which list item is currently selectable. Thelocation of the scroll thumb within the scroll bar may indicate arelative position of the displayed list items in the overall list, andthe length of the scroll thumb relative to the length of the scroll barmay indicate a size of the list.

Some computing devices, such as cellular phones, personal digitalassistants, and portable media players, may have relatively smalldisplay screens. Some such devices may include a touch screen interfacethat allows a user to interact with and manipulate a scroll bar andscroll thumb for list browsing. However, on devices withouttouch-enabled screens, the use of the scroll bar and scroll thumb islimited to conveying list size and location information. Therefore, thescroll bar and scroll thumb may interfere with content presentation onthe display in a way that provides little or no interaction benefit, andmay occupy space that could otherwise be used to present content.

SUMMARY

Accordingly, the display of a scrollable list of items in a manner thatconveys information regarding a size of the scrollable list and arelative location within the list of a select indicator in aspace-efficient manner is described in the Detailed Description below.For example, in one disclosed embodiment, a list of items may bedisplayed on a scrollable computing device display in such a mannerthat, upon receiving an input requesting movement of a select indicatorfrom a currently selectable list item to a different list item, theselect indicator is moved on the display toward the different list itemand the list is scrolled on the display in an opposing direction.

This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that are further described below in the DetailedDescription. This Summary is not intended to identify key features oressential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended tobe used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter. Furthermore,the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solveany or all disadvantages noted in any part of this disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a process flow of an embodiment of a method for displayinga scrollable list on a computing device display.

FIG. 2 shows a process flow of another embodiment of a method fordisplaying a scrollable list on a computing device display.

FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of a computing device with a scrollabledisplay, and illustrates a scrolling of a list on the display.

FIG. 4 shows another embodiment of a computing device with a scrollabledisplay, and illustrates a scrolling of a list on the display.

FIG. 5 shows another embodiment of a scrollable display for a computingdevice, and illustrates a scrolling of a list on the display.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a method 100 for displaying a scrollablelist on a computing device display. Before proceeding with thedescription of FIG. 1, it will be understood that the term “computingdevice” may include any device that electronically executes one or moreprograms, including but not limited to personal computers, servers,laptop computers, hand-held devices, cellular phones, portable mediaplayers, and micro-processor-based programmable consumer electronicsand/or appliances. The embodiments described herein may be implementedon such a computing device, for example, via computer-executableinstructions or code, such as programs, stored on a computer-readablestorage medium and executed by the computing device. Generally, programsinclude routines, objects, components, data structures, and the likethat perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract datatypes. The term “program” as used herein may connote a single program ormultiple programs acting in concert, and may be used to denoteapplications, services, or any other type or class of program.

Referring again to FIG. 1, method 100 first includes, at 102, displayinga portion of a list on a scrollable interface or scrollable portion of adisplay, and at 104, displaying a select indicator at a locationassociated with currently selectable list item. The terms “scrollableportion of a display” and “scrollable display” as used herein may referto any portion of a display, such as a window or interface shown on thedisplay, that provides for the ability to scroll through a list too longto be fully displayed at one time. The portion of the scrollable displayon which list items are displayed may be referred to herein as the“field of view” of the display.

The scrollable display may be configured to display the list asscrollable in one dimension, such as a vertical direction, or may beconfigured to display the list as scrollable in multiple directions,such as vertically and horizontally, rotationally, etc. Likewise, theitems in the list may be represented in any suitable form, such as text,icons, thumbnails, etc., and may represent files, folders, programs,and/or any other suitable type of content.

Furthermore, the select indicator may take any suitable form. Forexample, in some embodiments, the select indicator may take the form ofa “highlight bar” positioned over and/or around a list item that iscurrently selectable by a user. In other embodiments, the selectindicator may be positioned adjacent to, instead of over and/or around,a currently selectable item, such as to a side of the currentlyselectable item. In each of these examples, the select indicator may beconsidered to be “associated with” the currently selectable item in thatit indicates to a user which list item is currently selectable.

Continuing with FIG. 1, method 100 further includes, at 106, receivingan input requesting movement of select indicator from a currentlyselectable list item to a different list item. The different list itemmay be located adjacent to the currently selectable list item, or may bespaced from the currently selectable list item by one or more other listitems. The term “different list item” as used herein means only that thedifferent list item is not the same list item as the currentlyselectable list item, and is not meant to signify anything about thecontent of either list item. The input received at 106 may be receivedfrom a touch screen interface, keyboard, keypad, mouse, trackball,touchpad, joystick, or any other suitable input device or combination ofinput devices.

Upon receipt of the input requesting movement of the select indicator,method 100 next includes, at 108, moving the select indicator toward thedifferent list item and scrolling the list in an opposing direction toassociate the different list item with the select indicator. Themovement of the select indicator and the list on the display may besimultaneous, partially overlapping, substantially nonoverlapping,sequential, or may occur in any other suitable temporal order. No matterthe timing of the movement, the select indicator and the list bothchange position on the display when movement of the select indicator toa different list item is requested. In this manner, a size of a list maybe indicated to a user by the relative motions of the select indicatorand list by correlating a degree of movement of the select indicator andthe list to a size of the list. Likewise, a relative position of thedisplayed items within the list may be indicated to a user bycorrelating a location of the select indicator on the display to aposition of the currently selectable item in the list relative to abeginning and/or end of the list. This is in contrast to otherscrollable displays in which, upon receiving an input requestingmovement of the select indicator, the select indicator moves on thescreen without any accompanying list movement until approaching orreaching an edge of the scrollable interface, at which time the listbegins to scroll without any accompanying movement of the selectindicator on the screen.

The movement and position of the select indicator and the list may becorrelated to the size of the list and the location of the currentlyselectable item within the list in any suitable manner. FIG. 2 shows anembodiment of a method 200 for correlating the movement and positions ofthe list and select indicator with the size of the list and the relativeposition of the select indicator within the list. Method 200 includes,at 202, determining a length of the list, and then, at 204, determiningthe location of a currently selectable list item in the list. The lengthof the list may be determined in any suitable fashion. For example, inthe case of a list in which the list items are displayed in onebrowsable direction (e.g. where the select indicator may be moved onlyvertically or only horizontally), the length of the list may correspondto a number of items in a list. Alternatively, in the case of a list inwhich the items are displayed in two directions (e.g. where the selectindicator may be movable both horizontally and vertically), the lengthof the list may correspond to a number of rows of list items or columnsof list items displayed on the scrollable interface. Likewise, thelocation of the currently selectable list item in the list maycorrespond to an absolute position in the list, or to a row or columnnumber in which the currently selectable list item is located. Examplesof such scrollable displays are described in more detail below.

Next, method 200 includes, at 206, determining a ratio of the locationof the currently selectable list item to the length of the list, and, at208, displaying the select indicator on the scrollable display at alocation based upon the ratio of the location of the currentlyselectable list item to the length of the list. Then, at 210, method 200includes positioning the list on the display to associate the currentlyselectable list item with the select indicator. For example, if a listhas forty total items, the currently selectable item is the tenth item,and the list is scrollable only along vertical directions, the ratiodetermined at 206 would be equal to 0.25. In this case, the selectindicator would be displayed at a location on the scrollable displaybased on this ratio, and the list would be scrolled to associate thetenth list item with the select indicator.

The location at which the select indicator is displayed may be based onthe ratio of the location of the currently selectable list item to thelength of the list in any suitable manner. Examples include, but are notlimited to, any manner that conveys information related to the relativelocation of the currently selectable list item in the overall list. Forexample, in one embodiment, the select indicator is displayed at alocation spaced from a beginning or end of the field of view of thescrollable display by a percentage of the total field of view equal tothe ratio. As a specific example, where the ratio of the location of thecurrently selectable list item to the length of the list is 0.25, theselect indicator may be positioned at a location approximately 25% fromthe beginning or an end of the field of view of the scrollable display.This spacing may be measured from any suitable location on the selectindicator, including but not limited to a top edge, a bottom edge, acenterline, etc. of the select indicator. In alternative embodiments,this ratio may be modified by mathematical functions to achieve desiredscrolling effects.

Next, method 200 includes, at 212, receiving an input requestingmovement of the select indicator to a different list item. Upon receiptof this input, method 200 includes, at 214, determining a ratio of thelocation of the different list item within the list. Next, at 216, theselect indicator is moved to a new location on the scrollable displaybased upon the ratio of the location of the different list item to thelength of the list, and, at 218, the list is scrolled in an opposingdirection to associate the different list item with the selectindicator.

It will be appreciated magnitude of the relative movement of the selectindicator on the display as it moves from one list item to an adjacentlist item according to method 200 decreases as the size of the listincreases. For example, where a list has ten items, movement of theselect indicator down one list item results in the movement of theselect indicator one tenth of the field of view of the scrollabledisplay. In contrast, where a list has one hundred items, movement ofthe select indicator down one list item results in the movement of theselect indicator one one-hundredth of the field of view of thescrollable display.

Likewise, the increment of movement of the list in the opposingdirection increases with increasing list size. Therefore, the incrementof movement of the select indicator on the scrollable display relativeto the increment of movement of the list in the opposing directionconveys information regarding a total length of the list. In thismanner, method 200 may be used to convey information regarding both theoverall size of a list and the relative position of a currentlyselectable item within a list without the use of a scroll bar or scrollthumb.

Method 200 involves the “absolute positioning” of the select indicatorand the “relative positioning” of the list in that the select indicatorposition is determined by the mathematical relationship between thecurrently selectable list item and the total length of the list, whilethe list position is set based upon the select indicator position. Inalternative embodiments, the list may be positioned in an absolutemanner and the select indicator may be positioned relative thereto, orboth the select indicator and the list may be positioned in an absolutemanner.

Methods 100 and 200 may be used with any suitable scrollable display.FIGS. 3-5 show three examples of scrollable displays on which thesemethods may be implemented, and also show how each of these displayschanges as a user moves a select indicator on each display. It will beappreciated that these figures are shown merely for the purpose ofexample, and are not intended to be limiting in any manner.

First, FIG. 3 shows a computing device in the form of a mobile device300 having a vertically scrollable display 302 on which six items from alonger list of items are displayed. Mobile device 300 includes an inputdevice 304 in the form of arrow keys and an “enter” key that allow auser to move a select indicator 306 on display 302 and to select a listitem via the select indicator. Alternatively, mobile device 300 mayinclude a touch screen input device, or any other suitable input device.

As depicted in FIG. 3, the list has a total length of twelve items.Therefore, as shown at 310, when select indicator 306 is associated with“item 1” of the list, it is positioned such that a lower edge of selectindicator 306 is at a relative location approximately 1/12 from a top ofa field of view of display 302. In alternative embodiments, an upperedge or an intermediate portion of select indicator 306 may be used as areference point to position the select indicator.

Next, when a user inputs a request 312 to move select indicator 306 downone position, select indicator 306 is moved to a relative position ⅙ ofthe total field of view from the top of the field of view of display302, and the list is scrolled upwardly to associate “item 2” of the listwith the select indicator, thereby scrolling “item 1” partially out ofview and “item 7” partially into view. This is shown at 314 in FIG. 3.Upon the receipt of further inputs 316 from the user requesting movementof select indicator 306 to “item 6”, select indicator 306 is moved to arelative location approximately ½ down the field of view of display 302,and the list is scrolled upwardly to associate “item 6” of the list withthe select indicator. This is shown at 318 in FIG. 3. As the usercontinues to scroll down the list via additional inputs 320, selectindicator 306 continues to move down display 302 while the listcontinues to scroll in an opposing direction. Upon reaching “item 12” ofthe list, as shown at 322, select indicator 306 is positioned at thebottom of the display (i.e. at a relative location 12/12 down the fieldof view of display 302), and the list is positioned to associate “item12” with select indicator 306.

Next, FIG. 4 shows a computing device in the form of a mobile device 400having a rotationally scrollable display 402 on which six items from alist of twelve total items are displayed in a list field 404. Display402 also has a select indicator 406 in the form of a tab 408 thatextends from an inner semi-circular center portion to surround acurrently selectable list item.

As shown at 410, when select indicator 406 is associated with item “A”of the list, it is positioned at an uppermost position from a top oflist field 404. When a user inputs a request 412 to move selectindicator 406 down one position to list item “B”, select indicator 406rotates counterclockwise to a relative position ⅙ of the total field ofview from the top of the field of view of display 402, and the list isscrolled in list field 404 in a clockwise direction to associate item“B” of the list with the select indicator, thereby scrolling item “A”partially out of view and item “G” partially into view. This is shown at414 in FIG. 4. Upon the receipt of further inputs 416 from the userrequesting movement of select indicator 406 to item “F”, selectindicator 406 is moved to a relative location approximately ½ along listfield 404, and the list is scrolled upwardly to associate item “F” ofthe list with the select indicator. This is shown at 418 in FIG. 4. Asthe user continues to scroll down the list via additional inputs 420,select indicator 406 continues to rotate counterclockwise while the listcontinues to scroll in an opposing direction in list field 404. Uponreaching item “L” of the list, as shown at 422, select indicator 406 ispositioned adjacent to the bottom of the display (i.e. at a relativelocation approximately 12/12 down the field of view of display 402), andthe list is positioned within list field 404 to associate item “L” withselect indicator 406.

As mentioned above, methods 100 and 200 may also be utilized withdisplays that are browsable or scrollable in more than one direction.FIG. 5 shows an example of a display 500 that is browsable in both ahorizontal and vertical direction. Display 500 is shown in FIG. 5 apartfrom the context of a computing device, but it will be appreciated thatdisplay 500 may be used with any suitable computing device.

Referring first to 510, six lines of list items having three list itemsper line are shown on display 500, and a select indicator 502 is shownassociated with a first list item, labeled “1.” Upon receipt of an input512 requesting movement of select indicator 502 to item “2”, selectindicator 502 is moved horizontally to item “2.” This is shown at 514 inFIG. 5. Because movement of select indicator 502 from item “1” to item“2” does not involve moving select indicator 502 vertically betweenlines of list items, no vertical scrolling of the list occurs. Likewise,because display 500 as depicted is browsable but not scrollable in ahorizontal direction, no horizontal scrolling occurs. However, it willbe appreciated that display 500 may be configured to be horizontallyscrollable in the manner described above for methods 100 and 200.

Next, upon receipt of further inputs 516 requesting movement of theselect indicator to item “18” of the list, select indicator 502 moves toa position on display 500 indicative of the position of item “18” withinthe overall list. For example, where the list has twelve lines of itemswith three items per line, select indicator 502 may be moved to aposition based upon a ratio of the line number in which item “18”appears to a total number of lines of items in the list. Where item “18”appears on the sixth line of twelve total lines, select indicator 502may be displayed at a location approximately halfway between a top and abottom of display 500, and the list may be scrolled upwardly toassociate item “18” with the select indicator. This is shown at 518 inFIG. 5. Receipt of further inputs 520 requesting movement of selectindicator 502 to item “35” causes select indicator 502 to move to alocation on display indicative of the position of this item in the list.Because this item appears in the last line of the list, select indicator502 is moved to a location adjacent to a bottom edge of display 500, asshown at 522, and the list is scrolled in an opposing direction toassociate item “35” with select indicator 502.

In some embodiments, the rates at which the select indicator and listare scrolled may be varied depending upon the specific nature of a userinput and/or the position of the select indicator within the list. Forexample, in one specific embodiment, the scrolling of the selectindicator and list may be configured to initially start slowly, and thenincrease in speed as the user continues to activate a scroll input. Forexample, where the scroll input is a keypad key, the speed of scrollingmay increase as a user continues to press the key. Then, upon nearingthe end of the list, the scrolling may be configured to slowprogressively to achieve a “soft landing” effect at the end of the list.

Likewise, the select indicator may be configured to progressively speedand slow at various intermediate points within list when the useractivates the scroll input. For example, in an alphabetized list, themovements of the select indicator and list may be configured toprogressively quicken and then slow for each group of list entrieshaving the same first letter. Further, the select indicator may also beconfigured to progressively slow when a user releases the scroll input,even if the end of the list or the end of an intermediate groupingwithin the list has not yet been reached.

It will be appreciated that the configurations and/or approachesdescribed herein are exemplary in nature, and that these specificembodiments or examples are not to be considered in a limiting sense,because numerous variations are possible. Furthermore, the specificroutines or methods described herein may represent one or more of anynumber of processing strategies such as event-driven, interrupt-driven,multi-tasking, multi-threading, and the like. As such, various actsillustrated may be performed in the sequence illustrated, in parallel,or in some cases omitted. Likewise, the order of any of theabove-described processes is not necessarily required to achieve thefeatures and/or results of the embodiments described herein, but isprovided for ease of illustration and description. The subject matter ofthe present disclosure includes all novel and nonobvious combinationsand subcombinations of the various processes, systems andconfigurations, and other features, functions, acts, and/or propertiesdisclosed herein, as well as any and all equivalents thereof.

1. A computing device, comprising: a display; a touch screen input; aprocessor; and instructions stored on the computing device, wherein theinstructions are executable by the processor to display a portion ofscrollable content on the display; display an indicator on the displayto a side of the portion of the scrollable content at a location on thedisplay correlating a current content position to a total content size,and not display a scroll bar with the indicator; receive a touch inputvia the touch screen input requesting scrolling of the scrollablecontent; and in response to receiving the touch input, move theindicator on the display and scroll the scrollable content on thedisplay in opposing directions, and display the indicator at a relativelocation on the display based upon a content position after scrollingcompared to the total content size.
 2. The computing device of claim 1,wherein the instructions are executable to move the indicator and scrollthe scrollable content in opposing directions by moving the indicatorand scrolling the scrollable content in opposing directions at relativeamounts representative of the total content size of the scrollablecontent.
 3. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the current contentposition comprises a position of a currently selectable item within alist.
 4. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the instructions areexecutable to move the indicator and scroll the scrollable content inopposing directions by changing a list item associated with theindicator.
 5. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the instructionsare executable to display the portion of the scrollable content on thedisplay by displaying the portion of the scrollable content on avertically scrollable portion of the display.
 6. The computing device ofclaim 1, wherein the instructions are further executable to change arate of scrolling as a function of one or more of a length of time ascroll touch input is activated and a position of the indicator withinthe scrollable content.
 7. The computing device of claim 1, wherein thecomputing device comprises one or more of a desktop computer, a laptopcomputer, a server, a phone, a personal digital assistant, and aportable media player.
 8. A computing device, comprising: a display; atouch screen input; a processor; and instructions stored on thecomputing device, wherein the instructions are executable by theprocessor to: display a portion of scrollable content on the display;display an indicator on the display at a position toward a side of theportion of the scrollable content at a location on the displaycorrelating a current content position to a total scrollable contentsize, and not display a scroll bar with the indicator; receive a touchinput requesting scrolling of the scrollable content; and move theindicator and scroll the scrollable content in opposing directions. 9.The computing device of claim 8, wherein the instructions are executableto change a rate of scrolling as a function of one or more of a lengthof time a scroll touch input is activated and a position of theindicator within the scrollable content.
 10. The computing device ofclaim 8, wherein moving the indicator and scrolling the scrollablecontent in opposite directions comprises moving a different portion ofthe scrollable content into the display, and wherein the instructionsare further executable to move the indicator to a location on thedisplay spaced from a beginning of the display by an amount correlatedto a position of the different portion of the scrollable content withinthe scrollable content to the total scrollable content size.
 11. Thecomputing device of claim 8, wherein displaying the portion of thescrollable content on the display comprises displaying the portion ofthe scrollable content on a vertically scrollable portion of thedisplay.
 12. The computing device of claim 8, wherein moving theindicator and scrolling the scrollable content in opposing directionsfurther comprises scrolling the scrollable content to a position thatassociates a currently selectable scrollable content item with theindicator.
 13. The computing device of claim 8, wherein the computingdevice comprises one or more of a desktop computer, a laptop computer, aserver, a phone, a personal digital assistant, and a portable mediaplayer.
 14. The computing device of claim 8, wherein the instructionsare executable to display the portion of the scrollable content on thedisplay by displaying the portion of the scrollable content on ahorizontally scrollable portion of the display.
 15. A method enacted bya computing device, the method comprising: displaying a portion ofscrollable content on a display; displaying an indicator on the displayto a side of the portion of the scrollable content at a location on thedisplay correlating a current content position to a total content size,and not displaying a scroll bar with the indicator; receiving a touchinput via a touch screen input requesting scrolling of the scrollablecontent; and in response to receiving the touch input, moving theindicator on the display and scrolling the scrollable content on thedisplay in opposing directions, and displaying the indicator at arelative location on the display correlating a content position afterscrolling to the total content size.
 16. The method of claim 15, whereinthe current content position comprises a position of a currentlyselectable item within a list.
 17. The method of claim 16, whereinmoving the indicator and scrolling the scrollable content in theopposing directions comprises changing a list item associated with theindicator.
 18. The method of claim 15, wherein moving the indicator andscrolling the scrollable content in opposing directions comprises movingthe indicator and scrolling the scrollable content in opposingdirections at relative amounts representative of the total content sizeof the scrollable content.
 19. The method of claim 15, whereindisplaying the portion of the scrollable content on the displaycomprises displaying the portion of the scrollable content on avertically scrollable portion of the display.
 20. The method of claim15, further comprising changing a rate of scrolling as a function of oneor more of a length of time a scroll touch input is activated and aposition of the indicator within the scrollable content.